EZ 2: Living in Darkness
by Lunata
Summary: Set five years into the future; the gang is back, and better than ever. On a quest to find and rescue their friend, Mikan Sakura, who had gone missing since the incident of the tower. Hope, Loyalty, Strength, and Friendship are what they need to succeed.
1. Chapter 1

_"Please, if you don't do as I say, we'll all die" _

_"Li..Like I care!"_

_"But..."_

_"Just let go!"_

_"I love you, and I always will..."_

_"MIKAN!"_

Natsume jumped up his bed as the lighting flashed heavily. He was breaking in cold sweat, he turned his head towards the alarm clock, he wiped his sweat with one hand as he stared at the clock that read 2:00 a.m. He sighed, that incident from five years ago still haunted him.

Yes, five years had already passed since the previous incident of the tower. Everyone was able to escape alive and well, even though with a couple of bruises and a heavy case of fatigue, but they were fortunate enough to come out alive...well...all except Mikan Sakura, who sacrificed her life and freedom for those that she loved. She was not like everyone else in the academy, no, not a bit. She was strong, a bit violent, but wholly mysterious. She was often in a constant battle with herself, her dark side and her light side. And even though she was nowhere to be found, her friends still believed that she was out there, alive, and trying to find a way back home.

_Monday  
><em>_5:00 a.m.  
>Alice Monster Academy Asylum<em>

_**BOOM!**_

_"Hotaru!"_

_"Hotaru, wake up!"_

_Ruka and Koko tried to shake the 15-year-old witch into consciousness, she was just hit by a blast from one of the asylum's mage guards, apparently after exerting her power to shield her friends._

_"This is bad" Ruka muttered as he carried raven-haired girl and dashed off with the others_

_"She's the only one who knows the entire asylum" Sumire clenched her teeth at the bitter fact_

_"How does she know that anyway?" Koko asked, also running in full speed_

_"Duh, she's tried to escape like, countless times. She's practically been to every part of this 16-story building!" Sumire explained while dodging another blast_

_"Quit talking!" Misaki snapped from in front of them, "We need to hurry up if we're going to save Mikan!"_

_The sound of clattering heels put the entire group to a stop when they saw the nurses of the asylum charging toward them with huge syringes in hand. A huge energy ball hurled towards them at the same time. The group could only gasp as they were knocked out unconscious._

Natsume stood up and walked towards the window, with a slight push, the window flung open and let the cool night breeze into the room. He gazed unto the sights around the asylum, the nearby garden, the guards below, and the night sky that was illuminated by the stars. He looked heavenward and sighed, glowing around the entire asylum was a huge, blue barrier that emitted a very powerful force, and worse, it kept them in. The wind's pace picked up faster, Natsume smirked.

"What brings _you _here?" He asked, particularly to the unseen person who was there

"Pfft...as if you don't know" A female chuckle was heard from inside his room

"Seriously, don't you knock?" He turned, and set his gaze upon his bed. On the edge of the white mattress was Hotaru, her raven hair had already reached on her shoulders, slightly cascading down to her back. She was wearing her usual asylum uniform, a white blouse that didn't reach her abdomen, and white shorts that stopped five inches from the knee.

"If I knock, they'll chase me down" Hotaru flatly answered his question

"Fine, fine" He replied, "But what's your next big idea?"

Hotaru eyed him in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Imai, you don't come barging into another person's room for nothing" Natsume turned deadly serious as he glared at the witch

Hotaru stood up and walked towards the sixteen-year-old vampire, "You got me"

"You wanna bust out _again_?" Natsume asked as she took her place beside him by the window

"I have a feeling that you take me for being a failure" Hotaru glared at him

"You always fail at busting out" Natsume pointed out

"Hah, I don't do failures except when I fake them" Hotaru smirked wickedly, causing Natsume to get wide-eyed in shock

After silencing him, she grinned and turned her attention towards the view in front of them. She then pointed at the barrier's source, which was the blue, glowing magic circle that surrounded the whole asylum, and true enough, it was the object that held up the barrier

"See that magic circle?" She pointed at the shining circle that had glowing signs on it

"Yeah" Natsume nodded

"Tomorrow's the weekly check-up test. And as usual, the patients gather to the test quarters..." She cut herself off and pulled her arm back in, "Once the test commences, we break free from the chambers and escape"

"But the mage guards will be on our tails again" Natsume raised a brow at her plan

"Cat Girl has that covered, and the Fork fairy has the nurses out for the count" Hotaru licked her lips

"The soldiers?" Natsume stated

"Ruka" Hotaru named the assigned monster

"Okay, Ghost Dogs?"

"Crab Kid"

"Traps?"

"Andou"

"The guards outside?"

"You"

"What?" Natsume literally shrieked, to which Hotaru immediately raised her hands on top of his mouth

"Ssh! Keep it down!" Hotaru snarled at him, he calmed down and she put her hands down

"But how come is it that we take on every single obstacle, and you sit around and do nothing?" Natsume hissed at a low voice, but enough for the two of them to hear each other

"I am not just going to sit around and do nothing, Hyuuga" Hotaru replied

"Then what _do _you do?" Natsume crossed his arms, eyeing the young witch

"Remember that when we take the check-ups, the head nurse puts spells on us?" Hotaru began and Natsume nodded

"We cannot break free from those spells unless..." Hotaru smirked "...We dispel them"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You tried to dispel your restriction seal when you were suspended on a suspension chamber, and it took you a week to recover from the need of strong magical energy" Natsume pointed out once again

"That restriction seal was as strong as the barrier's magic circle, what do you think of me; a full-time dispeller?" Hotaru spat

"Then how strong is the restriction power of the spells during the check-ups?" Natsume asked

"As strong as a toothpick" Hotaru chuckled to herself "With a hint of iron on it of course"

"Har dee har har" Natsume faked his laugh "Just because I failed to break free from those once, doesn't mean I'm _that _weak"

"No matter, after we break free from it, we move outside, alright? " Hotaru instructed and the red-eyed vampire nodded

"When we reach outside, I'll dispel the magic circle" Hotaru explained and turned to Natsume, "And if I faint, kindly bring me along with you monsters, kay?"

Natsume rolled his eyes and laughed, "Fine"

Hotaru smiled, her plan was now spread to her comrades. She climbed on the window sill and motioned to jump off, just then, she turned to Natsume:

"Oh, and don't be late tomorrow, and make sure you get the guards"

"Just get out of here already!"

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hello guys, it's us again! We're back and probably even better than before. First of all, we would like to thank you guys for reading EZ 2: Living in Darkness. It's really a pleasure writing for you guys, we wuve you. _<em>**

**_And secondly, MOONLIGHT STUDIOS has a new member, from Deviantart: Vocaend. She's helping us in EnD ZoNe 2. And we've got our website on too, you can track our upcoming projects from there. Oh, and sympathize for D.N by the way, he's exhausted from our work, I mean, we do vacation and work at the same time. It's kind of tiring. Anyway, the story will be updated weekly, unless I eat something weird and find the urge to update twice a week. Stay tuned folks! - Lunata, D.N and Vocaend_**


	2. Chapter 2

_Bzzzt..._

_"Dispellers?"_

_"Check"_

_Bzzt...bzzt.._

_"Targets?"_

_"Out for the count"_

_"Excellent"_

_Bzzt...bzzt..._

_"In position?"_

_"Ready when you are"_

"Wonderful" Hotaru smirked over her line as she whispered to the microphone attached to her headset, "Make sure no one suspects a thing"

_"Bzzt...Roger that"_

The door to her room clicked open as the nurse entered, she mentally smirked as the pawns to their escape were put in place. Two other nurses with huge syringes entered the room, Hotaru stood up as the head nurse put a restriction spell on her. Signs immediately flew into the air and binded her hands, another taking form as a ring over her head and two other forming into anklets on each of her feet. The nurse signalled for her to move out of the room, Hotaru walked out slowly, following behind the three asylum workers. They walked by the halls where busy workers ran about, some carrying documents and files while others were guarding doors. The young witch's eyes scanned every corner and hall they passed by, making sure that nothing and no one will interrupt their plan. She grinned in satisfaction as they reached the door of her testing room. A streak of crimson red caught her eyes and she turned her head to her side. Standing a few feet away from her testing room was Natsume Hyuuga, who was also currently being led into his testing room, which was located five rooms beside Hotaru's, the rest of the rooms belonged to either their teamates, or just other crackpots who happened to be also trapped in the asylum.

The testing door clicked open and the metal boundary rose up, opening the doorway for them to pass. The head nurse went in first, followed by Hotaru and the other two nurses, single file. As soon as they were in, the door slid down again and locked itself. The head nurse walked towards the huge computer in front of them, she pressed a few buttons and the cylindrical chamber in the room glowed brightly, the floor around it also glowed and the chamber gently rose in the air.

Hotaru smirked as she saw the head nurse being busy with the preparations for the test. Without anyone touching them, the signs that floated around her wrists disintegrated into thin air without making a sound. The anklets on her feet disappeared and the ring on her head vaporized. The two nurses behind her kept silent, since they did not notice the restriction spell's sudden lifting due to Hotaru's dispeller. Hotaru grinned, she quickled twirled around and gave the first nurse a swift kick, and before the latter could give a groan of pain, she covered the nurse's mouth and gave the other nurse a kick on the neck, rendering her unconcious. The first nurse's eyes went wide with shock, but could not scream due to the fact that Hotaru was covering her mouth tightly. Hotaru grinned evilly with the hint of rage in her eyes, the nurse started to back away in fear as the young witch approached, but in her eyes; Hotaru was a demon...

* * *

><p><em>Wsssppp...poof...wsssppp...wsssppp...<em>

The restrictions on his hands, feet and head disappeared when the head nurse's back turned on him. Ruka grinned as he realized that this was the signal he had been waiting for Hotaru to give. Two mage guards were behind him, guarding the prisoner in the same manner the nurses were guarding Hotaru. Ruka tilted his head lower and chanted something inaudible, he closed his eyes shut and slowly, dark matter began to seep out of his skin. Two loud thuds were heard from behind him, he opened his eyes calmly as he moved his head upward, a pool of blood was slowly moving forward to his bare feet, and he walked forward to evade it. The head nurse turned around as she noticed the loud thuds and the stink of blood in the room, she gasped in horror when she saw behind Ruka, the mage guards, pale and lifeless, as if they had the blood drained out of them. She let a small shriek of horror escape from her mouth when her eyes landed on Ruka, who was grinned evilly at her, and at once she realized that he put a blood draining spell on the guards. He walked closer and closer to her.

Her scream echoed in the entire floor of that asylum...

* * *

><p><em>Splatter...<em>

"One down..."

_Splatter..._

"Two down"

_Splatter..._

"And done", Natsume smirked as the last guard in his testing room collapsed to the ground without a head on his shoulders. He looked around him to make sure that no one was looking, after being assured that no one was there, he raised a hand and pulled a lock of his hair near his ear back, revealing a small headset with a microphone.

"I'm done here in my joint, you guys?" He spoke as the headset buzzed

The gadget buzzed for a minute before a voice came out of the speaker;

_"I'm good over here"_

_"Done and taken care of!"_

_Bzzzttt..._

_"How did you expect it, minced or grinded?"_

_"Sumire, I'm gonna barf!"_

_"How'd you even do it, crab? You turned them to cocktail or something?"_

_"ENOUGH!"_

The line shrieked as a female voice boomed over the communication item, the others became silent after the said leader had commanded them to.

_"Is everyone out?"_, the speaker sounded, Hotaru's voice coming out of it

"Seems like it", Natsume said over the microphone. The object buzzed again before the person over the line instructed them to move out and take their positions, Natsume immediately dashed out of the room. To his surprise, the asylum alarms began to set off, red lights began to fire off everywhere and the speakers began to sound the emergency.

"This is CODE RED! I repeat, this is CODE RED! Prisoners have escaped and are now on the loose, this is not a drill. Every armed man is to proceed to the testing rooms within five minutes. CODE RED!", the speakers boomed

Natsume gritted his teeth as the alarm sounded and the people inside the asylum began to panic. He quickly slid his way down the halls.

_"Who triggered the alarms?_" Sumire's voice could be heard over the line

_"I bet you 200 rabbits Koko did it" _Tsubasa snickered

_"Oi, am I really that clumsy?" _Koko argued

_Bzzzttt..._

_"But you still did it, right?" _Sumire giggled

_"Focus, army right ahead!" _Hotaru warned

"Army right ahead?" Natsume echoed, he lifted his head and saw that coming his way, were nurses and soldiers of every kind, "Uh guys, are you getting this too?"

_"Pretty much"_

_"Same here"_

_"Over here too!"_

_"Ugh, why do I get the nurses with the pink boots? I thought they wore white!"_

"Guys, focus" Natsume snapped them back into the situation, "Hotaru, what do we do?"

_"Um, duh! We fight them, do you want to come out alive, lover boy?" _Hotaru instructed

The others just snickered while Natsume frowned

"Har dee har har" He rolled his eyes sarcastically, "So seriously, fight?"

_"Listen, you wanna live? Then fight. Ain't that common sense or something? You fight vampire hunters for crying out loud!" _Hotaru snapped

"Um, FYI; I haven't fought one since five years ago" Natsume cleared

_"No wonder he's gotten rusty" _Koko snickered from his place, causing the others to join in with his laughter

"Am I the topic of the conversation or something?" Natsume finally yelled on his microphone

_"Guys, he's not, okay? So just do everything you can to get out of this joint alive. Show no mercy to those who stand in the way, just make sure you have enough energy to make it outside" _Hotaru gave the final instructions

"Alright" Natsume nodded on his point

_"You got it" _Ruka said in agreement as he also nodded

_"Rock and ROLL!" _Sumire raised her fist in enthusiasm

_"Roger that" _Tsubasa grinned

_"*sigh* No choice, and besides, I hate nurses with pink boots" _Misaki sighed as she transformed into her Gluttony form, which had upgraded and she held her fork in her hand

"LET'S GO!"

* * *

><p><strong>O_O...ya...I think we really went overboard with the nurses...<strong>

**D.N: Are you kidding? We go overboard ALL the time. Just look at the first book.**

**Vocaend: Yeah! And it turned out awesome. So what do you want, minced or grinded?**

**D.N: Hmm...could I take fried?**

**Vocaend: Sure, as long as it's possible**

**You think we're not going WAY too far?**

**D.N: Don't tell me you've gotten soft**

**=_=...get to work...**


	3. Chapter 3

Over an hour had passed ever since Hotaru had given them instructions to fight their out, and despite disliking the idea, Natsume had no choice but to submit to her orders, considering the nurses weren't the type to ask questions first. Body after body fell to the blood-splattered floor as he continously attacked every nurse that came to lung at him. Some of them lost limbs, some had sliced body parts while others didn't have a head on their shoulders. A bit tired and frustrated with the pouring number of nurses, he hissed on the phone;

"Who was supposed to take out the nurses again?"

The speaker buzzed before voices became audible enough for him to hear

_"I thought it was Misaki!"_

_"Hey, don't blame me, I just got the mission info yesterday! I couldn't take them all out in less than a day. Besides, I left only 1/4 of the whole battalion alive"_

_"ONE-FORTH? It looks like a whole calvary to me!"_

_"Ohoho, I trust it that you did your job as well with the ghost dogs?"_

Natsume jumped up and swung his feet on top of a nurse's head, crushing it in the process. Noticing that the line had gone silent for a while, he began to worry about the question to Misaki's question.

"Koko! Koko, are you there?" He yelled, but quickly ducked when he saw a nurse swing an axe at him. He crouched down and knelt on one knee, gathering his strength into his fist, he struck a blow into the nurse's stomach, causing her insides to burst internally. As she fell to ground limply with a thud, he yelled once again into the phone.

"Kokoro Yome, are you there? Answer!" He hissed

Suddenly, the floor began to shake, and the look of irritation on the vampire's face quickly disintegrated into worry...

* * *

><p>Burnt bodies turned into ashes as they hit the floor while Ruka was spinning madly with cannons on both of his arms, 5 blue electric balls fired from the cannon every second, making him look like a spinning top with a bit of a light display. Once the electric balls smashed into the nurses, it would either explode them into oblivion, or electrecute them into fried chicken, whichever the case.<p>

But it was not like he did not hear of the conversation of Misaki and Koko over the phone, he too was worried that Koko screwed his part of the mission. It was very serious, one mistake, and they lose their chance of finding Mikan from the ruins of the tower. Seeing that most of what that surrounded him was ashes, he stopped spinning and rested his feet on the ash-littered floor.

"Koko! Answer us, please don't tell me _you _screwed your part, _again_" He spoke into the microphone

_"Hey, it's not like I do it everytime we do this, right?" _Koko finally answered

_"Uh, Ya do" _Sumire flatly answered, making the others snicker in mockery

_"Okay, technically, yes, but do you guys even trust me?" _Koko asked, Ruka imagined him making puppy dog eyes in the process

_"Seriously, Koko, if we didn't trust you, do you think we'd let you on the mission?" _Hotaru spoke up, breaking the silence from her line

_"Um...I...guess..." _Koko stuttered

At this, Ruka rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Koko, we trust you, just get to the point. Did you, or did you not screw your part?"

_"Um, that's –!" _

_Bzzt..._

"_Guys, we need to regroup, NOW!" _Hotaru's voice cut off the conversation between the two

"Hotaru, what is it?" Ruka asked, his voice now dripping with worry

"_I'm getting a LOT of hunters now. No doubt that they're going to come pouring on your parts too" _Hotaru replied, her heavy footsteps clearly heard from the speaker

"_I'm getting 'em too! Oh, man, is that BLOOD on his mustache?" _Sumire responded

Ruka felt the floor shake too, he lifted his head, only to let his eyes grow wide in surprise, "Um, guys I'm getting it too" He replied as he turned and started to sprint.

"Hotaru, where do we meet?" He proceeded to ask

_"Sector A-02b might be fine. That's the least where they'll expect us. You catch that, guys?" _Hotaru instructed, and from the blasts that could be heard from her point, it was clear that she was making HUGE progress on her part.

_"Yep, it'll fine. I'm clear here, anyway"_

_"I am so scramming!"_

_"I tell ya, ya got rusty. But I'm going!"_

_"Got it...Oh, yes sir, that's a lot of blood!"_

For the next thirty minutes, everyone scrambled from their current sections and dashed towards the meeting place. Taking no mercy on whoever was planning on stopping them from getting out of the asylum. Whether it be nurses, mage guards or any of the traps that they had earlier failed to dispose of. Every section that they passed by did not go without any blood on the floor or without any heads rolled onto the ceramic matter. And when they did reach the meeting place, they were as exhausted as a man who was stranded on an island and swam towards the mainland without ever stopping.

"Hah...hah..." Ruka panted as he balanced his arms on his bended knees

"So...tired..." Koko collapsed on the floor as he breathed heavily, "Haven't been this tired since five years ago"

"Yeah" Ruka huffed "Remind me _why _we keep exhausting ourselves like this again?"

"Cause we'rell senseless?" Sumire managed to breath out, although she too was at the point of collapsing, "I feel like I could sleep for a whole week at this"

"Finally! I get to escape PINK BOOTS!" Misaki yelled like she was crazy as she leaned onto one pillar

"Hah...Hotaru...how...much futher?" Tsubasa huffed, breathing out words with every chance he seemed to find

"I don't think they can catch up with us anymore, now let's scramble out and dispell that barrier. After that..." Hotaru trailed off for the others to guess. They all gave huge groans when she didn't finish her sentence – they knew what was coming.

"Running again?" Koko groaned "I'm so tired already!"

"But you _do _want to save her, right?" Hotaru asked, raising a brow at everyone else

They all fell silent for a moment, pondering about her question before giving her a reassuring nod.

"Then let's go" Hotaru signalled

Although a bit tired and restless, the group stood up and dashed after the young witch. The section they chose was nearest to the ground floor's secret exit, which led directly where the barrier 's power source was the strongest. One by one, they crawled out of the hole on the ground, the noisy asylum was starting to set off alarms that the prisoners had gone missing, unknown to them that the tennagers had already escaped outside.

"We're here" Ruka muttered as he lifted Sumire from the hole, "That's the magic circle, right?"

Hotaru nodded as she looked at the magical blue markings on the ground, "Yep, that's the one alright"

"You ready?" Ruka asked the young witch, checking if she was tired or seriously injured

"I'm ready" Hotaru huffed, she walked towards the glowing blue circle

She stood steady in front a sign on the circle, taking a deep breath in concentration, she raised her arms toward the barrier. She slowly opened her mouth and began to chant something, blue particles _–_ glowing exactly like the magic circle _– _began to float around Hotaru's arms. The tension around the entire group began to increase steadily as Hotaru focused harder and harder on the task that she was doing.

The forse around them seemed to get stronger and the lights around Hotaru's arms grew brighter and brighter, slowly the signs on the magic circle began to lift up.

"Amazing..." Sumire whispered softly as she watched Hotaru start to dispell the barrier

"How does she know all that in the five years we were locked in there?" Koko whispered over to Ruka

"She's got her sources" Ruka cracked a grin at the boy

The signs, one by one, began to disintegrate into small light particles that looked like blue fireflies. The group stared in awe at the wonderful sight that beheld around them, even at such a crucial time, they still had the chance to see something so mind-blowing.

"This is awesome" Misaki muttered as a light particle landed on her fingertips before quickly fading into thin air

"I'm speechless" Tsubasa chuckled to himself as the lights began to multiply as more signs disappeared

Slowly, the outer ring of the circle started to lift up, but this time, Hotaru was sweating madly, as it took a huge toll on her powers. She focused the energy of her body onto her hands once again, and she returned to her normal state.

Suddenly, a huge bark came their way.

The others flipped their heads towards the main entrance which was about 30 feet waya from where they were standing. The asylum maingates were being continously slammed into.

"What's that?" Sumire asked worriedly

"Oh no" Misaki muttered, then quickly, she turned to Koko, "You forgot one dog, didn't you?"

Koko bit his lower lip and nodded

"Which one?" Misaki asked as her eyes went wide

"The huge one with the collar"...

Misaki whipped her head towards the direction of the crashing maingate, "Oh no..."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Okay, we were trying to hold it in for the first time, but when it multiplied, we got ticked off. <em>**

**_STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT MIKAN'S ABSENCE_**

**_If it weren't for that simple fact then there would be no sequel. We usually are not this hostile to our audience, but all that yammering since the last chapter has teed us off. Vocaend and D.N are mighty ticked, and I don't think they have anything else to say other than this. I know we sound like total jerks but we need you to STOP._**

**_If anyone else complains about Mikan's absence or any other complains about the story, then YOU write it! Our schedules are very hectic because of our lives, and we are considering taking time off to bring you the story. So if someone else does with our last drop of patience, the story stops and we quit. Our schedules are killing us, and we also have our own lives, so we were planning to just finish one last story and kill the group, all the other projects will be discontinued. Kindly understand this; WE HAVE OUR OWN LIVES. And who would not get crabby over a hectic schedule like this? _**

**_So one last story, which is this one, and we kill the group, 'kay? Even Vocaend's DA account has been deactivated, she wants to focus on her own life, not the cyber life that she has. So stop it, our heads are already hot enough and you're adding the pressure. _**

**_We're sorry if sound like total jerks - Lunata, Vocaend and D.N_**


	4. Chapter 4

_**ATTENTION EVERYONE:**_

_**Do you guys remember the notes in the last chapter? Well, we're sad to say that we are rendered unable to finish our story. Our schedule is killing us, and despite our efforts to continue the story, we cannot. So it is discontinued and this account will be inactive forever, we are sorry for the inconvienience, but we have our own lives, people, and we need to live those lives. Sorry. **_


End file.
